Job search (or not)

[dougo]

I had an interview (my first in 12+ years) the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, at Gensym. It went well, and the follow-up interview with some higher-ups is this Thursday. I don't want to hatchet my counts before they chicken, but assuming they make an offer I have to figure out what to do about it. I have some misgivings about accepting the first offer I get without even interviewing anywhere else. That's pretty much what happened with Pure Software, and while I do feel very fortunate to have taken that ride, it wasn't exactly a dream job, and neither is this one. I would certainly be comfortable, though: I'm already friends with several people there whom I respect a lot, it seems like a very pleasant work environment (and a not-unreasonable commute), and it's all Lisp hacking on interesting prog-lang & AI stuff. But two of the things I was looking for were to work on a product I would use myself in day-to-day life, and to work on an open source project, or at least not to work directly on a proprietary software product. I have no idea if this sort of job even exists (locally, and I don't want to relocate right now), nor do I really have any idea of where or how to look, but I would feel bad to not even make an attempt to look. On the other hand, financial security is nice, and there is certainly an amount they could offer that would make me not want to bother looking anywhere else. Should I just tell them that number? I have no real idea how realistic a number it is, nor how to gauge whatever offer they might have been thinking about. And paradoxically I think I would have to see what my other options are to figure out the right number.

Comments

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

You seem so much attractive if someone else thinks that you are attractive too. Things are odd that way.